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The Outrider Handbook: Tenets
One: Be ready to die for the mission. You die when you join the Company. Your objective is to take as many of the enemy down with you as you can. You must be ready to pay the ultimate price for a greater goal. Two: Maintain your honor. Battle not for honor’s sake alone, but take only the missions with an honorable goal. It is a heavy decision to slay another; when on a mission, you will not have time to debate the question. Therefore, ensure that killing is the wisest choice, before you accept the mission. Three: Avoid combat until it is the only option. Faced more often than not by overwhelming numbers, the overture of combat is usually to our disadvantage. Even in the case that combat is inevitable, effort should be taken to delay discovery and violence until as much of the mission is complete as possible, and until we are confident of fighting on our own terms. With that said, remember that the Outrider Company is not deployed lightly, and any mission which requires our action is worth killing to complete it. Four: Know and respect those by whose side you shall die. When you join our ranks, you are welcomed as a brother, and treated with the same respect as the highest officer. Return this attitude, and follow the mantra, “share your arrows, double the killing,” and you will always fight with the Outriders at your back. Make special effort to befriend your fellow Outriders. Five: No role or rank bears a greater status than another. Ranks and roles are designed with specific duties in mind. They are tasks, not prizes. No meaningful amount of respect should be given to one of a higher rank, save for in the obedience of orders. When in doubt of the merit of the “Warrior” rank, imagine for yourself a Legion with no grunts, or with no officers. Promotion to a rank should follow proof that the candidate is most effective in said rank Six: Your enemy is worthy of a clean death. Mocking, cruel or humiliating deaths are reserved for Outriders who would inflict the same on their enemy. End it quickly and cleanly whenever possible. However, when ordered to retreat, immediately cease the killing of the wounded, and hope their allies are as honorable as Outriders. Seven: Never spare a foe. The enemy must learn that there is no safe way to engage an Outrider. Build for yourself a merciless reputation, and the enemy shall approach with fear and hesitation, or, perhaps, not approach at all. Such a reputation will not hinder us by causing the enemy to deploy greater force against us, as we arrive without warning, and depart before they can react. This is bears a notable exception in the case that a prisoner is required. Eight: Preserve what is needed to complete the mission (all else is secondary). As a brotherhood of soldiers, we are only as strong as the Outrider beside us. Do not abandon another to fight alone, leave no wounded behind who can be rescued. Watch our backs as we watch yours. But always choose the mission over the Outriders. This is done not out of selfishness, but out of wisdom. Nine: The mount is as close to its rider as a brother. Give the same respect to a rider’s mount, as you would the rider. Many Outriders raised their own mounts, some grew up alongside them, and most will die alongside them. They must be fed well and kept in good health, and afforded an honorable death when the time comes. Ten: Respect the chain of command, but nobody is above reproach. When discussing strategy or matters of honor outside of a mission, forget rank, age, and experience. There is no shame in an officer accepting an Outrider’s suggestion. When an accusation is levelled between a soldier and an officer, the accusation should not be weighted by the rank of the accuser, or the accused. The Company may even choose to depose another Legion’s officers – so long as they can prove beyond all doubt that it is an appropriate action for the good of the Horde. Return to Handbook Contents The Outrider Company Oath Chapter 1: Tenets Chapter 2: Standing Orders Chapter 3: Structure Chapter 4: Workings of the Company